Preface to the Special Issue on Applications of Parallel and Distributed Simulation in Industry

For many years, researchers have investigated applications of parallel and distributed computing to modeling and simulation. This has given us the challenging field of parallel and distributed simulation (PADS). This field studies how a simulation (federation) composed of models (federates) linked together over a network can work together (interoperate) to support decision making and/or training. Applications of distributed simulation have appeared in diverse industrial domains such as emergency planning, manufacturing, maritime, and supply chains. Research into the use of distributed simulation in an industrial setting has greatly increased in recent years. In particular, there has been much activity relating to how the IEEE 1516 High Level Architecture (HLA) can be applied to modeling and simulation in an industrial context. This and innovations such as the Grid have a number of significant and challenging research issues. As an attempt to focus interest in this area, we present this special issue as a showcase of contemporary research in the area. The first article in this special issue is an invited contribution from Dr. Stewart Robinson of the Warwick Business School. Dr. Robinson is a well-known practitioner of modeling and simulation. He was invited by the program chair (Taylor) of the 2003 Distributed Simulation and Real-Time Applications Symposium to consider what distributed simulation had to offer the practice of discrete event simulation in industry. His keynote address created much debate. We are happy to include his views on the benefits and dan-